The invention relates to rocket shells or other ballistic projectiles adapted to carry a hollow solid propellant charge cartridge within a rear combustion chamber thereof.
In a known arrangement of this type, the hollow propellant charge cartridge is supported in the front portion of the combustion chamber, and a support tube is mounted within the chamber for engagement with the wall of the hollow aperture in the cartridge. The tube serves to absorb radially inward directed forces exerted on the propellant charge when the rocket is discharged from the firing weapon. A nozzle is fixedly arranged in the rear end portion of the ballistic projectile to serve as an exit for the high temperature propellant gas developed in the combustion chamber. A cover is detachably fixed to the rear end mouth of the nozzle to close the combustion chamber, or within the support tube, or at the inner surface of the detachable cover, as well.
This support tube acts as a heat reflector to the adjacent ignited surface of the propellant charge, which is a drawback, because unavoidable temperature gradients within said surface result in a harmful inequality of the burning off rate. The aforementioned facts give rise to erosions in the ignited surface of the propellant charge, said erosions being aggravated by the high-velocity flow of the high-temperature propellant gas. These erosions impair the stereoscopic relationship of the propellant charge resulting in an impaired action, and, consequently, in impaired flying characteristics including harmful deviations from a desired flight path of the ballistic projectile.